1. Field of the Invention
The pay loads being delivered by parachute can become particularly large requiring the usage of extremely large parachutes. Currently such large parachutes display undesirable inflation characteristics which limit the size which may be considered for use of such parachutes either as a cluster of several such chutes or as one large parachute. The rate of inflation of such a large parachute is dependent upon the net flow of air flow into the interior. It is difficult to control the shape of the lower edge of the large canopy to maintain a circular shape to facilitate equal symmetry of the parachute during initial stages of inflation. Such chutes tend to form infolded portions and do not operate according to the designed inflation characteristics often resulting in structural failure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art devices including inflation aids for use in aiding in the initial stages of inflation of large parachutes are of many different designs and configurations. Examples of such structures are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,723,122 patented Aug. 6, 1929 to J. Barwicki on a Safety Parachute; U.S. Pat. No. 1,737,913 patented Dec. 3, 1929 to C. Broadwick on a Parachute; U.S. Pat. No. 1,777,934 patented Oct. 7, 1930 to F. Owens on a Parachute; U.S. Pat. No. Re. 18,366 patented Mar. 1, 1932 to F. Owens on a Parachute; U.S. Pat. No. 2,282,234 patented May 5, 1942 to C. Minich on a Parachute; U.S. Pat. No. 2,657,885 patented Nov. 3, 1953 to J. Brady on a Shock Reducing Parachute; U.S. Pat. No. 2,734,706 patented Feb. 14, 1956 to D. Jalbert on a Multicell Parachute Canopy; U.S. Pat. No. 2,764,375 patented Sept. 25, 1956 to P. Lemoigne on a Parachute; U.S. Pat. No. 2,954,191 patented Sept. 27, 1960 to H. Moran on a Controlled Flow Parachute Canopy; U.S. Pat. No. 3,035,798 patented May 22, 1962 to O. Brinkmann on a Parachute; U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,782 patented Oct. 13, 1964 to R. Karpf on a Parachute; U.S. Pat. No. 3,173,636 patented Mar. 16, 1965 to O. Sepp, Jr. on a Parachute; U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,640 patented Jan. 17, 1967 to H. Heinrich on a Parachute; U.S. Pat. No. 3,403,876 patented Oct. 1, 1968 to J. Mitchell on Parachutes; U.S. Pat. No. 3,420,478 patented Jan. 7, 1969 to O. Ferguson on a Parachute; U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,532 patented Feb. 25, 1969 to O. Sepp on a Parachute Skirt Expander; U.S. Pat. No. 3,474,990 patented Oct. 28, 1969 to A. Flatau on a Parachute With Canopy Vent And Standoff Panel; U.S. Pat. No. 3,507,467 patented Apr. 21, 1970 to O. Sepp on a Skirt Expander; U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,449 patented Oct. 12, 1971 to O. Sepp on Boundary Layer Control Parachutes; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,774 patented Oct. 26, 1982 to G. Koenig on a Parachute Inflation Assistance Device.